Supernatural Games The Angel and the Tiger Boy
by KelsWinchester
Summary: Dean and Castiel become tributes for their separate Districts, now they've got to battle it out, and sadly, one of them won't be making it out alive.
1. The Reapings

As the 79th year comes to pass in the Hunger Games, and the reaping draws in close, the 6th District, named the "Holy District" dubbed by people of the Capitol, prepares itself. Their village was array with crosses and Holy scriptures wherever they could fit them, Latin, Enochian, and Bible Quotes engraved into the stones on the floor or into the walls of buildings so that no matter where you looked, you was reminded that God was always there.

The people of the Holy District never really fear the day of the name draws. If a 12 year old boy gets drawn out they say "_It's God's will for this to happen, this is the path He has chosen_" or if a sickly, weak and fragile 17 year old girl was chosen it would be "_if this is what God has picked out, then that's what it shall be._"

But, Castiel Novak, a 17 year old boy always felt uneasy on this day, he didn't share the strong prominence of faith his fellow villagers did but never spoke about it, or else he would of been banished or frowned upon. He couldn't risk such actions with a family to look after. He had two elder brothers and a younger sister. Balthazar being the oldest at 22, Gabriel the second oldest at 20, Castiel and then his little sister, Anna, being only 13.

"Are you nervous?" Asks Balthazar, his tired face easily showed that he had been up half of the night, but refused to let it show in his voice. Castiel shook his head and stood near the door, waiting for the horn to be blown throughout the village and the sign for everyone aged 12-18 to gather in the main square.

"Have faith!" Anna bounded out in her white gown, her red hair tied in a smooth white silk bow, a relaxed smile stretched across her face. "If God believes we should be part of these Games, then that's what we believe!"

Castiel smiled and smoothed her younger sisters hair with his hand, barely under control from his shaking. Her name was entered 5 times already, as she took a tesserae as soon as she turned 12, her brothers hated it but they were starving and barely had a choice. Castiel was entered 24 times, every year he also took out a tesserae, barely able to watch his family keep starving whilst he could help them.

The sound of the horn bellowing throughout the village sent chills up Castiel's spine, his blue eyes widened as his hand found Anna's and they started to head outside. He turned to see Balthazar, nodding at him with full faith but Gabriel nowhere to be seen which sunk Castiel's heart a little bit.

When the siblings reached the square they split up to join the age groups they were bundled into and stood, watching the stage. Peacekeepers stood around the group of potential tributes, their faces dark but plain, chains with a cross on them hung from each other their necks. A man from the Capitol smoothly moved onto stage, his skin and make-up dashing colours splashed out against the greys and whites of the village.

"Hello, Holy District of Panem! Today we draw the names of the 79th year of the Hunger Games, let us begin the reaping!" The man stood between two cases where the names of every boy and every girl are separated into the two containers. His hand hovers above one before the golden coloured hand dived right in and picked out a piece of paper.

Castiel felt his heart begin to race, his body probably beginning to sweat, yet every other 17 year old around him looked calmed, not a single difference in their expressions, but they don't need to change their expression unless it was for relief.

"Castiel Novak!" Suddenly the eyes around Castiel turned towards him, as if every pair was saying '_This is God's chosen path, go, take it_' and he did. Peacemakers guided him to the stage and stood him at the edge, there was pause, waiting for someone to possibly call out and volunteer but Castiel, or anyone else for that matter, was expecting it. No one would veer the path chosen for him.

"And the female tribute is… Anna Novak!" Castiel feels his eyes instantly close, trying to block the tears already welling, his nails dug straight into his palms, deep enough to draw blood eventually. He couldn't, whether this was God's path or not, he couldn't be thrown into a bloodbath with his own little sister. No one will volunteer, no one will stop her coming up to that stage, despite the fact everyone knows how close the Novak family is. Eventually he opened his eyes and saw the crowd muttering among themselves.

Did Castiel miss something? His eyes scan the crowd again and see the Peacekeepers chatting among themselves, confused, until his eyes draw to the center where his little sister should have been walking down. Castiel felt an anger boil up instantly, the 18 year old black man standing in front of Anna, a menacing looking on his face, glaring up at Castiel.

"You heard me, I volunteer." The boy bellowed out, the Peacekeepers looked over to confer and then they turned, their faces as emotionless as ever.

"We accept your notion to Volunteer, Raphael Atlas." One of the peacekeepers called out, Raphael smirked and moved his way onto the stage, standing close to Castiel, his chest out and chin high.

"I've been waiting for this day, Castiel." Raphael growls over, Castiel can't help but feel a chill run down his spine at the coldness of the sentence, underlining that Raphael has been waiting for the day he could go into the games with Castiel and kill him. At the same time, Castiel felt relief that his sister would be free for another year at least, but the worry that more tesserae's will have to be put in by Anna if Castiel doesn't make it back.

The Capitol man clapped his hands crazily and stood by the side of Raphael, grabbing his microphone from the stand. "Well, with this crazy turn of events, your tributes for this year are Castiel Novak and Raphael Atlas!"

Castiel looked over into the 18 year old's eyes and felt his whole body shiver and shrink under the gaze. For the first time, Castiel felt the fear of the Hunger Games and knowing me most likely won't come out of this alive.

The 79th year comes to pass in the Hunger Games, and the reaping draws in close, the 12th District, named the "Hunter District", prepares itself. Households having their, what potentially could be, their last meal with their children and giving their goodbyes and wishes.

Dean needed to distract himself from today, his fingers messing around with a knife as he sat in the kitchen of his small home. His little brother, Sam, was helping their father, John, create breakfast with what they had, which was barely anything. A small turkey and some hard bread Dean found in a bin which was luckily clean as food gets around here.

Sam smiled slightly as he brought the food over to his bigger brother and sat next to him at the table, watching Dean being bored, or nervous. "You scared?" Dean looked up and grabbed a slice of bread, munching on it slowly.

"Sammy, I'm 16 years old. I've had 4 years of this, I haven't felt nervous about the reaping since I was 13." Sam frowned and grabbed a slice of bread for himself with a piece of turkey, eating it as a sandwich. Their father joined him, groaning with his back aching and his head slightly sore before grabbing some food for himself.

"You should be brave like your big brother Sam, being nervous isn't going to change anything really." The Winchester brothers always hated how cold hearted their father could be sometimes, but Dean understood why, being soft in this sort of living wasn't going to make anything easier, by being how he was with his sons he was making them better hunters, better scavengers and easier to just live.

Sam didn't bother replying and just ate his food, his hands still trembling slightly, he couldn't help but be nervous, he knew how many times Deans name has been put in because of tesserae's in place of Sam, no matter how many times Sam screamed and cried about wanting to put his name in because he didn't want Dean to, Dean did it anyway before his little brother could.

All eyes shot towards the door when drums ran through the streets, two men with goatskin drums walked the cobbled floors, warning that the reaping was about to take place. Dean pushed himself away from the table, tucking his hands into his ripped trouser pockets and heading to the door, beckoning Sam to follow him. The younger brother turned to his father for comfort but just saw the man nod at him and look back down at his breakfast.

"Come on Sammy, we can't be late." Dean growled out to get his little brothers attention again, Sam pulled what Dean could only describe as a 'bitch face' as he jogged up to Dean's side.

The square was packed, loud chatting going on among the children of their age groups, Dean caught conversations of nervousness or luck being wished to a friend that they don't get picked. "Dean…"

"Sam, you'll be fine. Your name is in there once. If you get picked, you know I'll volunteer." Dean smiled slightly and ruffled his brothers longer hair, but Sams' face still grimaced even at the soft touch. The younger Winchester shook his head and backed his head away from Dean's hand.

"Dean, you can't volunteer, dad needs you more than me, you're the more agile one _and_ the better hunter!"

"That's the exact reason why you can't go into the Games. You won't last two seconds." And with that, Sam stormed off into the crowd with the other 12 year olds, the fumes of anger practically rolling off of him. Dean knew Sam wouldn't understand what he would do for his little brother, he loved him with his whole heart even though he never showed it. He could never allow his younger sibling to be sliced and diced in the sick puppetry that is the Hunger Games.

Dean slides into the group with the other 16 year olds and stays silent, his green eyes forward and towards the stage, watching a clumsy and blundering Capitol woman move onto stage, her pea green skin and ridiculous tattoos riling a rage in Dean for reasons he couldn't really explain, but it pissed him off seeing her.

She slowly steps to the microphone and taps it lightly, hearing her manicured nail being echoed around the stage. She cleared her voice and move her shocking pink lips to the microphone. "Good day! District 12 of Panem, the 79th year finally falls upon us, let us draw!"

Her hands move slowly over the container for the females, her hand dipping in and out within a second, barely making time to mix the names up. "And the female tribute for this year is, Josephine Harvelle!"

A 14 year old blonde girl shifted to stage, her body shaking slightly as she stood at the edge, her head down as if she was about to cry. The silence fell waiting for a volunteer but the silence remained and the host continued, her hand now dipping into the males names. Dean felt no worry run through him, he gazed over to Sam and smiled slightly, happy he would be safe for another year.

"And the male tribute for this year is, Samuel Winchester!" No, no, no. Dean's face fell, his body instantly lurched forward as the Peacekeepers guided Sam to the stage, the older brother screamed, shoving the other kids out of the way, his yelling barely decreasing.

"Son of a bitch, I volunteer! _I VOLUNTEER_!" Dean cried out at the top of his lungs, his chest heaving as he got to the peacekeepers, and seeing Sam's face minimally surprised, pretty much knowing Dean was going to do this, and he almost seemed… disappointed. But either way, Dean held his chest out and waited for the peacekeepers to huddle him to the stage, leaving Sam to dissolve back into the crowd.

As Dean's eyes scanned the crowd, he bypassed everyone until he saw Sam again, his eyes diverting away from Dean's as soon as they met. The older brother frowned and looked over to the female tribute, her own eyes still stuck to the ground.

Dean only had one option now, he had to win and he had to return to his little brother.


	2. Day One Beginnings

The jungle plain spread is as far as the eye could see in all directions, endless trees and trees and tress of different shades of green, no open areas as far as Castiel could work out. But the large golden Cornucopia sat in the middle of the forest, weapons and food ready to be snatched up. Castiel's eyes scanned side to side looking at the other tributes, a lot of younger ones being put in this year, barely two 18 year olds probably making Castiel one of the top 4 in being the oldest, Raphael most likely being the oldest, who was glaring at Castiel from the corner of his eye.

A boy, he could only work out as being from District 12, shone out from the rest, probably a year or two younger than him but his expression was hard and focused. His back arched ready to run, his eyes tight and sharp, almost like a tigers. He remembered seeing him in the training and the chariots but never paid a lot of attention to him until now, he took note of this boy, hoping to make him an ally at some point.

As soon as the countdown ended, Castiel pushed himself forward from the metal plate, landing clumsily but picked his speed up to match some of the fastest runners, including the Tiger-Boy, the nickname Castiel decided to give to the green eyed boy of District 12. His body dodged through the trees being as agile as possible, the large golden horn coming into closer view and the backpacks and weapons drawing even closer, Castiel's hand automatically extending for it.

Castiel grabbed the closest weapon to him which was a sword and scooped up a large backpack, slinging it over his shoulder just in time to duck from Raphaels first attack of a mace, barely missing the messy brown hairs on his head and digging into the golden metal of the Cornucopia.

"Don't expect to survive this, Castiel. Not with me alive." Raphael growled out before pulling his mace back into his hand giving time for Castiel to bound off into the trees with his weapon and backpack, trying to get as far away as possible from the boy who wants to kill him in cold blood.

Castiel could feel his heart beating hard in his chest, adrenaline and fear rushing through him as he kept moving. He knew Raphael wouldn't stop until Castiel was dead and the canon sounds, all because of his lack of faith compared to everyone else in District 6, he always had questions and doubts that no one answered, they simply turned themselves away from the questioning and assumed they were never asked. Questioning faith in District 6 was just as forbidden.

Initial instinct was to find a water source but he had no idea where to start in searching or how to even look for it. After a good 15-20 minutes of running through the thick jungle he paused to catch his breath and rested in the low branches of a tree and secured his sword onto his outfit then placing the backpack in front of him.

"Lets see what I grabbed." Whispered Castiel as he pulled the zip back and burrowing through it. A water bottle for a litres worth of water, a pack of dried fruit, various nuts and seeds, a sleeping bag and throwing needles. Castiel sighed slightly in relief with the good haul he got, the food to ration and the bottle to fill, once he finds some water.

He handled the needles gently and looked at them, the weight and sharpness of the needle would easily puncture vital points in a human or an animal, another thing useful for hunting. If Castiel was actually any good at hunting animals, which he wasn't.

He swiftly packed everything away and lowered himself from the tree in silence before carrying on his trek for water. His eyes and ears open for any threats that could be nearby and his hand hovering over the handle of his sword, he will need to learn to hunt, and quick if he wanted a small chance of surviving and not dying from hunger.

Castiel couldn't help but think on how the Tiger-Boy was coping already, whether he got to the Cornucopia, or whether he's already been killed at the sound of the canon booming in the background. Weirdly enough, all Castiel could hope is that the boy is alive and he will bump into him, but not to die.

—

Dean wasted no time in speeding off when the countdown ended, his eyes forward and forward only, concentrated on getting the weapon and backpack and from there on in he would sort himself out. But he couldn't lose, and he knew his anger was unbalanced, his rashness posing a potential threat to his own well being during the games.

Once he reached the Cornucopia he grabbed whatever looked like would aid him, including a pack of throwing knives, a double edged spear and a dark blue backpack. He turned to his side, his eyes quickly taking in the people around him and made use of the throwing knives instantly, flinging one into a 15 year old boys temple who was close to him, most likely from District 11. Dean watched him fall to the ground empty handed and followed him down, retrieving the knife, wiping it clean before disappearing into the green as the canon sounded.

1 down and 23 more to go in Dean's eyes, he wasn't here to make friends, allies or to even care about what would happen when he killed someone. He couldn't let his own emotions overtake him in this game, the only way to win was to be tactical and merciless.

After a short sprint and the Cornucopia was shrinking behind him, he rested somewhere that just looked the same as everywhere else, the same green dense area full of trees and animal life. Dean found two water bottles, beef strips and a few slices of bread along with a thick looking jacket, hopefully to keep him warm at night.

Dean slung the backpack over his shoulders, secured his weapons and slowly moved out again, looking for food, shelter, water and anyone else to fight. His eyes picked up the area pretty quickly, learning which trees were what and which plants he could potentially eat, though he avoided the berries in fear he would mistake a blueberry for a poison-berry, since they looked almost identical.

He moved through the green more and heard a shuffling among the grass, leaves crunching under the other things movement. Dean moved slowly, creeping as quietly as possible until he saw a small rabbit sat eating on a patch of grass, Deans presence unknown to it. Dean held his breath and drew out a throwing knife, aiming himself and letting his adrenaline shake settle. His thoughts drew back to when he hunts, his eyes locked onto his target and Dean's arm lifting silently ready to throw.

Suddenly the rabbit dashed off into the green and Dean's mind refocused, he turned to see an arrow flying towards his head. He ducked quickly and rolled, following the projection line from where it came from. The trees. Dean cursed and retracted his knives before smoothly pulling out his spear and holding himself defensively, his position vulnerable right now.

"Come out and fight you sneaky son of a bitch!" Dean growled out, his spear still held close to his body. Another arrow flew out from his left, his body reacted instantly, the spear coming up and easily rebounding it only to have another one shot at his feet. Dean felt himself relax a little, whoever has the bow and arrow wasn't an expert and was still getting used to the weapon whilst a spear was like an extension of his arm to Dean.

"Big mistake." Dean turned towards where the arrows came from and shot the spear into the area, a yell of pain crying out from the trees before a body fell, a 14 year old girl falling from the tree, the spear going straight through her shoulder and her torso already covered in blood.

The hunter felt his heart twinge a little at the sight of someone who looked so young in such a state, he shook the guilt away and yanked out the spear, another cry emerging from the young girls lips. "I'm sorry, it's just how to play the game."

The spear came down once more and for the second time today, Dean caused the canon to boom throughout the arena.


	3. Day Two  Explorations

The first day and night of the 79th Hunger Games bypassed quickly as Castiel settled himself into a tree for the night and watched the Capitol symbol appear in the sky. Five dead already, their faces hovered in the sky, their battered and bloody states. One of them, Castiel could tell, was beaten to death by a mace which was in Raphael hands. The face was barely recognizable with the amount of blood and bone that was beaten out of the males face.

Castiel gulped to himself loudly, highlighting how dry his throat was since he never found water during his uneventful trek through the forestry. He fed himself on wild berries which luckily weren't the poison-berries and were actually blackberries, the juice from them quenching his thirst for barely 30 minutes.

Sounds of the forest were enough to keep Castiel awake most of the night, his sword held close to himself just in case somebody fancied having a hack at him whilst he was in the tree. He didn't know when but eventually he fell asleep for a few hours before jerking awake from nearly falling out of the tree. Castiel felt the activity buzzing today, he had a feeling he would run into trouble but he didn't know what, the gut ache he had was enough of a warning.

After packing his belongings away, Castiel lowered himself from his branch and continued his search for a water source, trying to pick any sort of clue with damp grounds or animals drawing close around it, but nothing to be seen for more hours on end.

When Castiel's stomach began to grumble he knew he had to force himself to hunt today. He drew out his sword and kept himself light footed, or as light footed at the jungle floor would allow him. Scuttling of feet around him caught his attention but nothing could be seen to kill and eat. Castiel groaned to himself and just continued to walk until a small mound made him pause, it moved, shuffled and turned but didn't move.

"A jungle-rat…" Whispered Castiel as he edged slowly towards the ugly looking creature with two sharp buck-teeth, and claws that could cause some bad wounds and possibly throw in infection almost instantly. Castiel raised his sword as carefully as possible, the rat's beady black eyes glaring at him. "Come on…"

That's when the rat hissed and jumped, it's claws open and ready to slash away at whatever it could get to on Castiel, the young boy leaped to the side, backing up against a tree and saw the rat wasn't giving up, the animal swiftly turned and jumped at him again, it's eyes narrower than before. Castiel slung his sword across when the rat got close enough and felt warm blood splatter against his cheek, the head of the rat falling one way and the body another way.

Castiel gathered himself back up, trying to fathom what just happened and ended up picking up the body of the rat and tying it to the backpack, ready to skin and eat later. "I swear there's got to be a cleaner way to hunt than this…"

The first canon of the day echoed through the arena, Castiel paused and turned towards the sound and prayed it would be Raphael. With him still alive, Castiel was destined to die in the compounds of the Hunger Games and that sent shivers down his spine, each time he imagined Raphael with his bloodied mace, looming over, his deep voice laughing at him.

Shaking this from his mind, Castiel got deeper into the jungle he felt the atmosphere dampening and his clothing starting to stick to him in a combination of sweat and heated water in the air. "Water…" Castiel patted his lips together and felt how dry they were, his weary feet began to pick up into a lazy jog, the pure need for water dragging him forward.

Relief was the first feeling Castiel felt, followed by happiness, giddiness and finally desperation as a small rock pool finally appeared before him. The young boy dropped his backpack by the side, threw off his jacket and top before diving in to the beautifully cool water. Castiel sighed out and grabbed his bottle, filling it up to the brim and tasting it slightly. He dropped some iodine into it at the weird taste and left it to purify as he relaxed in the water.

"I'm sure there's water nearby, just keep moving!" A males voice from afar spoke out, Castiel stiffened instantly and turned himself towards the noise.

"Well we're one man down after that crazy boy with the mace took out Azazel!" This time a female's voice, Castiel started to move quickly, scooping his stuff up, shoving the bottle, shirt and jacket into his bag before hoisting himself into a high-enough branch to get out of the view of the other tributes.

"We were lucky to get out of there alive ourselves Meg. If it wasn't for you injecting that sleep syrup in him, we would of been dead as Azazel." Another females voice but more authoritative. Eventually the three people who were speaking came out of the trees and into the rock pool opening. Their reaction just as excited as Castiel's was.

"Crowley, Crowley! _Water_!" The female he recognized had to be Meg from the sound of her voice, her messy dark hair thrown into a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes. The male that followed was probably the oldest of the group being 17 or 18, he had short black hair and wore all black too which Castiel thought would be hell in this sort of jungle climate.

"Ruby, pass us the bottles." Crowley called out behind him, the other female followed up closely, three bottles in her hand, her sticky blonde hair falling over a side of her face, her hands too full to scrape the hair back. As they filled their bottles up, Castiel kept himself as still and quiet as he could, his body tensing as he realized who these three had to be.

The dubbed "_Demon Careers_" of Districts 1 and 2.

—

Dean was relieved to feel he wasn't the only one who killed on the opening day of the Hunger Games. With three others dead, that he didn't kill, meant 19 tributes still loomed around the jungle. The hunter started himself off for the day with a small ration of food and wandered through the forest, looking for others to kill or safe shelter to find since Dean ended up sleeping out in the open. Not exactly safe and left him with barely 3 hours of sleep.

Then the canon sounded. 18. 18 left and 17 of them had to be taken down, it was the only thing Dean could think about to return to his little brother. The look of disappointment on Sam's face ached him every time, like Dean should have let him go into the Games. Sam should have known it'd be a cold, cold day in hell that Dean would simply throw his brother into the arena.

The first hunt of the day was simple and clean, not that Dean was expecting any different. He lived and breathed hunting for his family, deer, turkey's, rabbits and wild rats. He knew how to take them down with a simple knife and a rope, taking down a rabbit with a throwing knife was easier than breathing to Dean. He burrowed himself into the tightest packed space of trees and skinned the rabbit with speed and precision, not wasting one slice of meat as he cut.

He laid the meat out and sliced it into thin slabs of meat and gathered mint leaves, wrapping the spare meat in them before placing them into his bag for future meals. Starting a fire was harder than Dean thought, without matches he had to deal with a couple of rocks and a pile of twigs. After 15 minutes of clicking the two rocks together, trying to get a fire, he threw them down in anger.

"Son of a bitch, just light up!" Dean growled at the twigs, staring at them and expecting them to answer, but they just laid on the ground, motionless. The hunter sighed and picked the rocks back up, clicking a couple more times before feeling the anger rile up again, he clicked the rocks together one more time with enough force to break them before sparks flickered off them and landed on the twigs, small flames starting to rise.

Dean threw his arms up into the air in triumph and took a deep breath of relief when the fire picked up enough for the meat to be hung over and left to cook. Eventually the meat browned and Dean attempted to take his time eating them, but his empty stomach kept forcing him to shovel it down until the three strips were gone and his stomach was somewhat satisfied.

With the smoke thickening from the fire Dean followed the line of black and saw it filtering above the trees, the panic that someone would follow the fire and find him here. Though it's a chance to fight, he was tired and just needed to quench his thirst, so he put out the fire the best he could and fled the scene, picking up a light jog, the lack of sleep already kicking in.

"Awake Dean," the hunter shook his head and slapped himself lightly on the cheeks, the dense heat of the jungle making him more and more tired the deeper he got, "stay awake Winchester." But the density was weird, like it wasn't normal. A thin fog develops around him, his eyes dropping more and more as he moves, his body movements becoming sloppy, his feet tripping over each other until his body hits the floor.

He needed to move badly, but his body wouldn't respond to his internal screaming, he wanted his legs to kick forward and push him back to his feet but they remained motionless, causing Dean to build panic in his mind, his chest heaving heavily as he flung his arms forward but nothing beyond that happened. They felt weak, like the bones in his body have melted away and only blood and muscle remains.

Sam came to his mind, back when they were in the forest once and Dean tripped over a branch and fell on his face in such embarrassment. Sam laughed to himself slightly and turned back to his big brother, running his hand through his longer hair and stretching a hand out to Dean, mumbling something before laughing again, but Dean couldn't hear it. Dean couldn't reach out to his little brother's hand as it sat waiting; he tried to lift his hand up, but knew he didn't budge an inch.

Dean's lips part, the dryness from his throat making him cough out, and a groan leaving his mouth, his eyelids closing over. "He-lp…" The last word that slipped from Dean's lips before he heard footsteps around him and his mind blacked out, leaving Sam back in his memories.


	4. Day Three Meetings

Dean was stirred by a humming in his ears as his senses slowly came back to him, the sound was close, almost above him, but it as relaxing, comforting. He couldn't help feel himself break into a small smile, the sound reminded him of being at home. Sam sitting by his bedside, his humming calming his older brother when he drifted into fits of nightmares.

But he wasn't as home, and he wasn't in a bed. His fingers nudged themselves beside them, the texture he was lying on was rough and weird. It wasn't grass, or mud or where he collapsed and blacked out. Dean's eyes shot open and in one swift movement he was sat up and looking behind him where the humming was coming from.

A boy with his head down, messing with body of a wild-rat, attempting to skin it but Dean could tell he was terrible at it. The boy stopped humming and his hands paused, the knife stopping half way through his work.

"Who are you?" Dean's voice croaked out, the strain on his voice making him realize he must of been out for a day or boy looked up, his wide blue eyes searching and locking onto Dean's.

"I am Castiel. I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from damnation." He replied smoothly, his eyes not moving from Dean's for a second as he removed his hands from the knife and the dead animal before watching Dean look for his weapons.

"Damnation?" Castiel nodded and turned behind him, pulling out a backpack and a spear attached to it, carefully handing it over to the hunter.

"Yes. The Careers were nearby. If I hadn't dragged you out of where you blacked out, you would of been another dead tribute." Dean felt like the words 'thank you' were about to roll off his tongue, until he noticed that he should of been dead, not saved.

He slowly pulled his spear out and held it across his lap in case Castiel tried to attack him, he was always prepared. "You saved me? Why?"

"I simply want to be allies." Dean scoffed a laugh and found himself scanning Castiel's eyes for a hint of a lie, anything that can give him the excuse to turn and kill the tribute, but his stomach tightened when he saw nothing but truth in his face.

"We're here to kill and win, why would I need to make allies when we will end up fighting it out in the end?" Silence fell between them, the question hovering in the air. Dean felt his chance, there was no answer to this, this was the core of the Games, 24 go in 1 comes out a winner. In between that, allies, friends, none of that counts or matters.

"I don't want to win. I want you to." Dean almost broke into another laugh until his face fell, the words what Castiel just uttered as they sunk into his mind. Dean didn't understand it, he searched again in Castiel's eyes, for that small flicker that he was lying, a coy for Dean to lower his defenses, but nothing.

Castiel sat silent too, watching Dean judge him, whether to trust him or not. Castiel had no reason to lie, what he said was true and would make sure the Tiger-Boy would understand this. Dean felt his grip on the spear loosen, his body less tense, giving up with judging the other boy and extended his hand.

"Dean Winchester, District 12." _Dean Winchester, the boy to win the Games._ Castiel shoved his own hand into Dean's instantly, his face brightening at the acceptance of, the now known, Dean.

"Castiel Novak, District 6!" The hunter smiled slightly and pulled his hand back before Castiel broke it from the strength in his shake. The boys climbed themselves down from their safe branch and moved through the forest.

Castiel introduced Dean to the water source he found and allowed themselves to drink enough to satisfy them, their multiple bottles filled ready. "Do you think the Careers will return?" Dean asked, quickly cleaning his face and wiping it down with his shirt. Castiel thought for a moment and shook his head.

"I doubt it, if they're water filled for a few days, they won't return, if they find another water source then they will most likely camp around that area." Dean nodded and sat himself next to Castiel, pulling out the strips of rabbits, skewering them ready to cook.

"I saw you skinning a wild-rat when I woke up. You weren't making a great job of it Cas." Castiel looked up from the rabbit and cocked his head at Dean, the sudden nickname foreign to him in never having one before. Dean picked up on his and shuffled around awkwardly. "I mean—- You don't mind me calling you Cas right?"

"Not at all." Castiel smiled slightly and pulled around the rat, half of it skinned, half of it still attached. "How am I doing it wrong?"

Dean sighed and shuffled himself over to the other boy, taking the rat out of his hands and grabbing a knife. He leaned in to show Cas how to skin, his hand smooth and taking out none of the meat, wasting nothing. Castiel nodded and tried to follow the movement before the animal was shoved back into his lap along with the knife. "Now try it again."

Cas sat the rat on his lap, sliding the knife along but still taking out chunks of meat. Dean sighed and got onto his knees, moving closer to Cas and grabbing his hands.

"No, no, no. Look, let me guide your hands" Dean pushed Cas' hand slowly along the skin, the knife sliding smoothly and neatly again. But Castiel's attention wavered, his eyes drifted from skinning the rat to Dean's face, absorbing the look of pure concentration on the hunters face, noticing the specks of freckles from this close up, his mind starting to absently count them.

"…Cas?" Castiel jumped at the voice breaking his counting, _53 so far_,only to see Dean's eyes were meeting his again.

Castiel scuttled back and felt himself reddening from embarrassment."I apologize Dean, I didn't mean to stare—-" Dean waved a hand at him and moved himself to the edge of the rock pool. The density of the forest beginning to make him sweat, or at least he hoped it was the forest heat.

"It's fine, people stare when they're tired, sleeping in this hell hole is almost impossible." Both of them laughed awkwardly and Castiel joined him, dipping his feet in.

The only thing was though, is that Castiel didn't feel tired at all, he now felt more awake and alert than he had in a long time.


	5. Day Four and Five Getting To Know

As night started to descend, another uneventful day tied itself up slowly. Throughout the day there were several shots of the canon signalling the deaths of more tributes. Dean and Castiel sat themselves over a small fire, cooking their dinner as they sat in silent, watching the rabbit and wild-rat meat cook slowly.

Castiel's eyes watched as Dean cleaned his spear with a rag covered in water, the metal shining under the flickers of the flames. Dean glanced up to see Castiel staring again, the third time he had caught him doing this today, but this time Cas didn't realize Dean had noticed.

"Cas?" Dean stopped himself cleaning the spear and placed it beside him as Cas jumped out his staring spell and looked up at the hunter, smiling slightly. "District 6, right?"

"That's correct." Dean nodded slowly and flipped the meat over slowly, watching the pink colour turn brown. "Why?"

Dean shrugged lazily and wrapped himself in his jacket, the cold starting to pinch around his skin. "I was just remembering your Chariot ride."

"You enjoyed it?" Castiel asked, his eyes widening waiting for a compliment, Dean could almost hear the tail wagging off the other boy like a puppy.

The hunter picked the sticks of meat from the ground and passed one between them. "I have to admit, the design was pretty breathtaking. Especially the mechanical wings you and the other guy wore, they way they spread themselves and slowly flapped as if you really had them."

Castiel couldn't help but break into a bigger smile as he slowly ate away at the rabbit meat. He loved the outfit their stylist made them, she was amazing in capturing what District 6 was about, despite the fact Castiel wasn't completely into the religious scene, what they wore was beautiful.

A pure white, silk robe that fell just below their knees, decorated with colours of gold and red. So finely sewn in that the patterns she and the helpers made must of taken weeks on end to create, even just on two robes. Metallic gold arm guards with crosses embedded into them and long gladiator sandals that wrapped around their legs half way up the calf. The outfit on its own was beautiful but the wings blew it out of the water, the technology involved left the crowds in awe.

"It was rather beautiful, wasn't it?" Castiel agreed, using the stick to draw a rough outline of the wings he wore, he remembered the weight of them being surprisingly light despite how big they were.

"No need to toot your own horn there Cas." Dean laughed slightly and finished his meat.

"You're necklace, is that your token?" Asked Castiel, Dean looked down and smiled at his chest, his fingers rolling over the small bronze amulet on a black leather necklace.

"Yeah, my little brother, Sam, gave it to me when I was younger. I wear it everyday without fail. It's sort of my protection." Castiel smiled slightly and pulled up his shirt a little, revealing a small pin on the hem of his trousers. A pair of silver angels wings with a small cross engraved onto them.

"This is my token, it's been passed down through my family. It's meant to be passed down to my little sister when she turns 14." This time Dean smiled and leaned in closer to look at the pin, the detail on the wings was so precise, it was like the people of District 6 were all artists or something in his mind.

"It's beautiful." Dean whispered before pulling back, the amulet still being rolled between his fingers.

"As is yours, Dean." Castiel lowered his top and finished his food before putting out the fire then hearing the Capitol anthem play in the sky, the seal appearing above them.

Four more dead, as the faces appeared in the sky both of them paused to watch, three of them passed and then Dean felt his face fall on the fourth. "Shit." Castiel looked back down and frowned slightly, sighing to himself quietly.

"What's wrong Dean?" Dean shook his head slowly and saw the Capitol symbol appear again, his eyes dropping to the floor.

"The fourth one, the girl, she was the daughter of a woman my dad knew. Jo. God, she was only 14." Castiel didn't know what to do or how to comfort, he simply reached over and patted the younger boy on the shoulder but felt his own stomach drop when the face he wanted to see wasn't there. Raphael was still out there, mace in hand ready to kill Cas whenever he gets the chance.

"Dude, are you okay? You're as white as a sheet?" Castiel sat himself back and nodded before wiping a hand over his face and waving Dean off, making sure he didn't get worried. "…Okay, come on, let's get some rest."

Castiel nodded and pushed himself to his feet and climbed to his normal sleeping height in the tree, pulling both of their backpacks up with them and helping Dean up along with him. "I'll keep watch for the night."

"Cas, you sure? I mean, I've had a whole day of sleep—-"

"I don't normally sleep. A few hours do me fine, I'll wake you when I need to sleep." Dean didn't feel the need to argue against it and got into the sleeping bag, giving Castiel the jacket to keep him warm whilst he watches. As Dean settled down, Cas pulled the hunters head onto his lap, keeping his hands on Dean's shoulders.

"Ugh… Cas?"

"Hmm?"

"What… are you doing?" Castiel cocked his head and looked down at the position they were in, Cas shrugged, his expression non-changing.

"I don't understand the problem, I'm merely doing this so you don't fall down, you could give away our position if you fall down from the tree whilst you sleep." Dean shuffled slightly and sunk deeper into the sleeping bag.

"Isn't it a little… you know?" Dean couldn't fathom why this would even matter, he's come to trust this other tribute so quickly. His honesty, not a hint of a lie in everything he said. He was expecting Castiel to lie, to actually say this then kill him whilst he rests. Dean looked up, doing the same as always, looking for the flicker of false words in Cas' eyes but found the same thing as always, pure truth. "Actually, it doesn't matter, Cas. Goodnight."

"Sleep well Dean." And with the safety of Cas holding him and watching him, he fell into a nightmare-less sleep for the first time in 9 years.

—

"Dean… Dean!" Castiel shook the younger hunter awake, the green eyes snapping open, Cas' blue ones being a few inches away. Dean wriggled and shot up, almost falling out of the tree until Cas grabbed him around the waist, keeping him balanced. "What was that?"

"Jesus! Cas, personal space,_ personal space_!" Dean ran a hand over his face and rubbed his eyes seeing the light bleed through the gaps in the thick forestry above. "You didn't wake me up?"

"I didn't need to sleep." Castiel replied and watched Dean carefully slip himself out of the sleeping bag then wrapping it back up.

Dean shoved the sleeping bag into one of the backpacks and stretched himself, the cracking of his back bringing a lot of satisfaction. "What did you do all night?"

"I watched you sleep." And there it was, the blunt honesty that Dean can't seem to shake off. Dean couldn't explain, but the honesty bugged him in a way that the fact he's never met any this honest. People usually lie, sneak around, cheat. But this boy doesn't see the need to lie and Dean couldn't understand it, how would this sort of honesty help?

"Dude, do you know how _creepy_ that sounds?" Castiel shrugged and climbed down from the tree, slinging a backpack onto his back and cleaning his face in the lake.

"I had nothing better to do, it was either watch you sleep or stare at the endless green around us." Dean sighed and followed the older boy down to the ground and made them both some food for them to eat as they started to move again in silence.

After 30 minutes of non-stop walking, Dean paused and wiped his head quickly, mounds of sweat already bleeding through his clothes. He patted his chest and pulled his hand away, feeling it slightly wet. "Fuck. It's so hot in this damn forest."

"Shh." Castiel hissed out, placing a hand out by the side of him, warning Dean not to advance. Dean raised an eyebrow and quietly slid up to Cas' side, his eyes darting around the trees and ground, trying to find why Castiel had stopped him. Just as he was about to speak Cas pointed but Dean couldn't see anything, he narrowed his eyes but all he saw was leaves and green. "Trap."

The older boy edged forward and picked up a thick stick, hovering it above the ground until he got to a certain spot and pushed it to the ground. A trap closing it and snapping the stick clean in half, the sound making Dean flinch. "Jesus, that would break a leg clean through…"

"There must be a tribute close. These traps must be here to wound unsuspecting tributes and then finish them off." Dean nodded and pulled around his spear defensively, his eyes still darting around, his sharp vision ready to see any movement.

Barely half a minute after the trap was triggered, there was a rustling in the trees.


	6. Day Five Career Dealing

Dean barely had time to blink before the scene around him developed into a mess, the rustling paused and a sharp pull of what sounded like rope killed the silence, Dean felt himself enveloped by thick nets of rope and pulled until the floor was far out of his reach, his spear also falling out of hands reach. Cas called out but the push of something sharp along his cheek stopped him from moving too. He moved his arm up slowly only for it to be stopped again by something pushing it down.

"Cas!" Dean cried out, his own constricted body trying to wriggle free from the trap, Cas looked up in his statue like position and scanned the area again with his eyes.

"Dean, stop wriggling. If you fall from those ropes you'll be sliced apart." As soon as Cas finished his sentenced he heard a hearty laugh emerge from the trees followed by a slow, patronizing clap.

"Well done Cas, you're a quick one aren't you?" Three figures moved out of their cover and stood at the edge of the trap, all three of them smiling at the other two's struggle and pain. "Wires, nifty little thing's aren't they?"

"Crowley, I presume?" Castiel called out, his eyes shifting to the side, seeing the three of them clearly. Crowley stood between the two girls, Ruby and Meg as he nodded, his arms crossed casually and a side smirk spread across his face.

"You're a calm guy for someone who's stood in a trap that could potentially slice you open in any direction." Crowley looked up at Dean who was still trying to break free from the ropes. "Unlike you're little boyfriend here."

Dean growled to himself and looked down at Cas who was as still as the trees around him. Meg laughed slightly to herself and moved around so she was closer to Castiel, moving her hands through the wires and wiping the bit of blood off his cheek where the wire had sliced him. "Do you like my handy work?" She asked, slowly pulling her arm back and licking the blood.

"Real artistic!" Dean spat from above, the rope starting to make his skin feel sore. Meg glared up towards Dean and returned herself to Crowley's side, her anger barely showing across her expression.

"So," Crowley began, "The little angel and the tiger boy. We've been eyeing you two down since the training sessions, and had a small inkling that you two would end up pairing up together. Ruby is quite the predictor." Ruby smiled slightly and bowed at her praise.

"If you want to kill someone here, kill me, let Dean go." Castiel said, his eyes set on the demon careers rather than feeling wide eyes piercing him in the back of the head from Dean. Crowley laughed slightly and '_aww'd_' at him for the sweet sacrificial gesture.

"That's adorable, really, sacrificing yourself for your boyfrie-"

"He's not my boyfriend." Dean said quickly, breaking off the careers sentence. Meg scoffed out a laugh and Ruby rolled her eyes as if what Dean had said was completely ridiculous. Crowley coughed to compose his talk again and continued.

"_But_, if we were here to kill you, we would have done it by now. We're here to make… a deal of some sort." As the sentence ended, a small silence hung letting the two boys consider what had just been laid out in front of them.

Castiel and Dean looked at each other as if they were discussing it through their eyes, Dean nodded slightly and Cas turned back to the other tributes. "Keep talking."

"You see, there's one main trouble out there and well… Castiel you should know about it very well." Crowley smirked slightly and Cas felt his stomach drop, he knew exactly who he meant and his eyes widened slightly. "He's our main challenge and he is to you two as well, and we we're hoping that you two would kindly join in our mission to kill him."

Dean laughed slightly and attempted to move his arm to his face. "Why, you can't kill one guy when there are three of you? That's poor dude, that's real poor."

"You don't understand! He took down the strongest out of our team with all four of us against him; he will take us down and you down too." Meg stressed out at them, the image of Azazel being mauled by that one tribute made her body shake slightly; she shook her head and covered her face, her emotions too strong to hide this time.

"And what, let's say me and Cas does take down this beastly tribute, you three take us down afterwards?" Dean laughed again at the poorness of this deal and would rather die now than take an enemy down for them and have one of the demon careers win instead. Crowley sighed in his impatience and nodded at Ruby who took out a fancy looking knife and hovered it above one of the wires holding Castiel back.

"No. We let you free, you take down Raphael, and then the chase shall start again, back to square one." Crowley explained again, he looked towards Castiel, knowing from his earlier verbal sacrifice he would do anything to get Dean out of a potential death situation, as soon as he saw him Crowley knew how the cogs turned in the little angel's mind.

"Deal." Said Castiel, an immediate opposition coming from Dean as he started to thrash about in his trap again, but he ignored it and saw Crowley crawl his hand through the wires carefully and shook hands with Cas, his smirk only growing more than before. He turned and nodded at Ruby again to start to cut away at the wires, letting him free.

"You're a smart one little angel." Cas ignored Crowley's words and stretched his arms and legs back into motion after forcing himself to be still for such a long time. "We want to see Raphael's face by the end of tomorrow night. If we don't, we will come after you and kill you for sure." Castiel nodded and turned his attention to setting Dean free by slicing down the bottom of the net and catching him before setting him to the ground.

"So, until tomorrow night little angel and tiger boy." Crowley bowed slightly and gathered his two other team mates before swiftly returning into the green. As soon as they were out of sight, Dean grabbed his spear off the ground and shoved Cas into a tree, his eyes furious.

"What the actual _hell_ Cas? You're working with them now?" Dean spat out, his grip tightening around Cas' shoulders, Castiel looked away and frowned slightly.

"I had to do what I had to do to keep you alive, Dean." The older boy replied quietly, his eyes still tracing the ground. Dean scoffed out a laugh and pushing himself away, shaking his head and striking his spear into the ground in his frustration.

"To keep me alive, huh? To keep me _alive_? Who said I wanted you to? You said you want me to win but why? I never asked for your help, you just appeared out of nowhere saying you were going to get me to win. What if we're the only two left after all this? What do you want me to do, kill you after all you're trying to do?" Dean cried out, he didn't care who heard them now because he had the anger of a thousand suns right now to take anything and anyone on and take them down easily.

Castiel lifted his eyes slowly, his body and composition still calm and collected but his expression saddened. "I want you to win for your little brother." And like that Dean's face dropped, the sudden anger rushed out of him in one breath and he saw Sam again. Dean's hands stopped by his side and his back straightened.

"Sammy." Dean closed his eyes for a second, seeing Sam where Cas was now, a smile spreading over his face slightly and when his eyes opened again he saw the angel again. Dean had no doubt, no questions anymore, this guy stood before him means ever word he says. Castiel is here right now, sacrificing his life for him, a guy who he barely knows. "Cas… I-"

"Don't apologize. I understand your anger." Castiel cut in quickly, his hands fumbling to adjust his backpack and returned himself to Dean's side.

"So... we're really going after that Raphael guy? Who is he anyway and what did Crowley mean when he said you would know?" Cas found his head starting to ache slightly at all the questions being thrown his way, he pinched the bridge of his nose and began to walk back towards the water source from earlier.

"It is not of import." He replied quietly, his walking being stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder and Dean's body blocking him from moving anymore forward.

"Dude, yes it is. It's very of _'import'_."

"Fine, we'll talk about it over dinner." Dean didn't know whether that was a date invitation or just a general dinnertime conversation invite. Either way he nodded and accepted the condition.

For the next couple of hours the boys went hunting with each other, Dean was surprised how light footed Castiel really was in trekking through the already silent forestry. Dean moved quietly alongside Cas, his spear ready to throw in his hand, he tapped the older boy and pointed forwards where a large bird was resting on the ground, poking around for worms and insects. Cas nodded and stopped himself moving whilst Dean kept himself advancing, the troubles of earlier today being pushed to the back of his mind whilst he hunted. He and hunting were one, nothing else takes him, and nothing else distracts him when he's in the game.

Dean flung his spear forward and watched it pierce through the birds head, leaving the boy untouched and undamaged meaning the meat would be easier and nicer to cook. Dean did a mini fist pump in the air and retrieved the bird, holding it by the neck. "There's nothing like a plump bird for dinner!"

Castiel smiled and clapped quietly, left in awe by Dean's professional animal hunting skills. "You'll have to teach me that one day." Cas patted the younger boy on the back and started their walk again, Dean followed but his expression changed from pride to discouragement. Dean was sure that it would be him and Cas left in the games, leaving him to kill him, the thought of it made his stomach drop and hand grip just a little bit tighter around the birds neck, not wanting to think about it.

They settled themselves down in silence near the water source but keeping a good distance from it in case any of the other tributes decide to visit during the night. Cas started a small fire as Dean plucked and skinned the bird, slicing it into cooking chunk and propping them over the flames.

"Come on then, you owe me that explanation." Said Dean, as his hands messed around with chunks of grass on the floor. Castiel sighed and nodded, positioning himself closer to the fire, hovering his hands over it as the temperature started to fall.

"Raphael is from my district, as you probably already know. Basically he volunteered to come into this thing to kill me." The older boy started, his stomach already twisting at the reminder of what Raphael was here to do. "It's because my district is overly religious, everyone there believes in one thing and one thing only and if you don't…"

"You get killed?" Dean asked as he flipped the meat over. Castiel nodded slowly and ran a hand over his face.

"Basically, no questions asked, if you don't believe, you are killed."

"And you don't believe?"

"I've been questioning, though, not out loud, but Raphael had a hunch about it for a while, in a district full of hard blown believer, it's easy to pick out those who are wavering in their faith and well, with me being picked for the Hunger Games was really just a happy convenience for him." Dean shook his head and looked over at Cas who stared into the fire, Dean could see the fear building in his eyes which confused him. Cas was willing to die for him yet the thought of someone coming after to kill him scared him, even though both result in the same fate?

"That's just wrong, man." Castiel agreed and picked his meat, eating is slowly, almost as if he wasn't really taking notice of it. "We're not going after him."

Cas lifted his head up, snapping out of his small trance and looking both worried and shocked. "W-Why Dean? We have to go after him!"

"Screw it, let the careers come after us, we'll take them down easy, I'm handy with a spear, you're handy with a sword right?" Dean smiled slightly and moved around, placing a hand on Cas' shoulder to reassure him, but Cas' frown didn't ease, he shook his head slightly and lowered his eyes again.

"Why would you risk that?" He asked, his hands gripping slightly around the stick his meat was stuck through. Dean patted his hand on Cas' shoulder again and leaned himself over so he could catch Cas' attention. The consequences could come later, whether he liked them or not, he wasn't ready to let Cas go yet.

"Because, I care about you."


End file.
